CO CORK: €2.2M:This 70 acre estate on the banks of the Lee has plenty of history – but the house is a modern affair

WHOEVER buys Kitsborough has a lot to live up to if the long line of illustrious owners is anything to go by. The story of Kitsborough, a 70-acre estate in the Lee valley in Cork, dates back to 1785 when the original house was built by the Waggett family, who had a prosperous business providing supplies to the ships of the British navy under George III.

The Waggetts stayed at Kitsborough until the 19th century and held prominent roles in Cork city civic life. Kitsborough has been home to several lord mayors over the 19th and 20th centuries and several of its owners held seats in Leinster House and Westminster.

In the 1920s, a concrete tycoon, John A Wood, lived there and his company later became part of Roadstone Wood and the CRH Group. In the 1950s, th estate was the home of the bishop of Cork and Ross.

Those looking to continue this illustrious tradition could be disappointed, however – the old three storey over basement house is gone. The Georgian-style house that stands there now was built in 1990 by the current owners and is on the market through Sherry FitzGerald for €2.2 million.

A thirty minute drive from Cork city, the six-bedroom house is reached from the Lee Road by a long, tree-lined avenue. The estate has 70 acres of land, walled gardens, fruit orchards, wooded walks, a mill pond and pasture .

The house has plenty of space to rattle around in. On the ground floor alone there’s a dizzying array of rooms, including a large, bright kitchen/breakfastroom with terracotta-tiled floor, a large drawingroom with a trio of big windows, decorative cornicing, another separate drawingroom, a diningroom with rich parquet flooring, a family room, and a large study.

It has high ceilings both upstairs and downstairs and quite a few of the rooms are dual aspect. Of the six, very large double bedrooms upstairs, three are en suite and there’s also a family bathroom.

The property also comes with the original cornerstone laid in 1785 and a restored coach-house, where the craftsmen who built Kitsborough once lived. It has been converted into two self-contained two-bed mews houses, which could be used as a holiday home, long-term rentals or as guest accommodation. The pasture is suitable for horses and cattle.

Kitsborough, Leemount, Carrigrohane, Co Cork

Six-bedroom house on a sprawling, historic estate, with a converted coach-house

Agent: Sherry FitzGerald